


Five Times Cas Learns A Little Something About Being Human

by kisahawklin



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Gen, Quintuple Drabble
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-09-13
Updated: 2013-09-13
Packaged: 2017-12-26 10:58:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 500
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/965142
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kisahawklin/pseuds/kisahawklin
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>What it says on the tin.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Five Times Cas Learns A Little Something About Being Human

**Author's Note:**

> A quintuple drabble! This is my second one of these, and I'm getting quite fond of them. :D
> 
> For the [10 in 10 challenge](http://astolat.dreamwidth.org/264510.html). Thanks to soleta and clavally for helping me make this make sense.

===

Castiel watches Dean pass the blade over his face, the easy precision of half a lifetime of practice. It seems simple.

"See?" Dean asks. "Easy."

He mimics Dean's grip and starts at the same place on his face that Dean did. He presses down, feeling the blades against his skin, first friction, then pain. 

"Whoa," Dean says, grabbing his hand, stilling it. "Not so much pressure." He takes the razor, and moves to stand behind Castiel, left hand reassuring on Castiel's shoulder, right hand setting the blade against Castiel's cheek, pulling down firmly, revealing a smooth, undamaged strip of skin.

===

Basic hygiene is time consuming, Castiel decides, wondering if he will eventually become as blasé about it as the Winchesters. Apparently being human means being fussy about feeling clean; he showers twice a day, partially for the water cascading over him, a metaphor for the absolution he will never earn.

"Flossing is important," Garth is saying, giving Dean a look that Castiel has learned means mild disapproval. Sam shifts, looking uncomfortable. That's a story about their childhood he will never hear. 

"Here," Garth says, pulling a strip of thin threadlike material out of the plastic container. "Let me show you."

===

It's Sam who teaches Castiel to drive, after a single session with Dean that ends with Castiel being forcibly removed from the car and left on the side of the road.

Sam has remarkable patience, something he has obviously learned from living with Dean. Castiel can't help baiting Sam; something _he_ has learned from living with Dean. Sam smiles at him beatifically – _nice try, Cas_. He doesn't really know how to get under Sam's skin yet, not the way Dean does, effortlessly. 

Squealing tires, driving over curbs, near accidents – Sam shakes his head calmly and says, "Take it easy, Cas."

===

Charlie is the only person who calls him Castiel all the time. 

"Now you're my bitch, Castiel," she howls, ramming Wario's car into his and making his controller shudder. Dean shouts something about button-mashing. "Shut your piehole, Winchester," she yells, "or you're next in line."

Dean settles back as Wario runs Peach's car off Rainbow Road yet again. 

"You are sadistic, spiteful, and mean," Castiel says, and Charlie turns to him with her mouth open in surprise. Just as Peach's car is lowered onto the road, Castiel fires a heat-seeking shell. Peach giggles as she whizzes by Wario. 

"Just kidding."

===

There is a lot to learn about being human. There are also some strange and surprising things that just seem to come with the territory. 

There is an oddness about his existence now, his hyper-clear senses slightly warped, like old pictures curling up at the edges. It makes humanity easier to bear, except those moments in the blackness of the bunker with only his thoughts to keep him company as he drifts to sleep. Absolution may be impossible, but they will set things right, and then, just maybe, he will learn to forgive himself. 

To err is human, after all.

===


End file.
